Dave, I resolved my concerns, in the main. She was very clear about her reliance on Dr. Andress and two staffers at Colorado Extension to vet her recipes and that counts for a lot. Still, as with any book, if I decide to process something, I'm going to look carefully at the individual recipe, processing time and instructions. Even the Ball Blue Book has been known to be in error. The only thing I don't understand is her mention of a "4 PINT" canner. I keep wondering if it's an editing error because elsewhere Bone is careful to differentiate between a pressure COOKER vs. a pressure CANNER. Given her Extension training she must be aware of the current standard. Part of the confusion I had originally is that the book is called Well-Preserved, yet 3/4 of the recipes are for cooking. I was seeing recipes reviewed that were never meant to be preserved and of course I would think those were unsuitable. Additionally, of the 1/4 preserving recipes, a good percentage are frozen or refrigerated, not processed. I feel the title is misleading, but none of the interviews I read made that distinction. I do think a lot of people buying this book may feel misled, which is unfortunate. It's a good book on its own terms, but probably for most, better borrowed from the library. Carol

How much would be involved in sticking in a metal window well? An excellent idea. Otherwise, over time, the soil will collapse in on the hole. However, you should dig down at least another foot below the window, fit in a well and fill the hole with gravel. That will give any water that does go into the well a place to disperse. You should attach the well to the house foundation. Just use masonry bits and plastic or lead anchors. If you don't attach it to the house, soil and excess water will leak in between the metal well and the house. If you truly can't use a drill and work bothers you, forget it, relax, have another beer!

It's a Pimp-up Alside Sheffield. Decent quality, and energy efficiency. The question is, why do you think you need a triple pane window with krypton gas?

I once had a dog who loved to jump up on the window seat in our upstairs hall, every single morning while I was making the bed/getting dressed etc. From this vantage point, he could see up and down the the backs of the houses for much of the block and even through to the street behind (tornado took down many big trees in 1974 and 10 years later, they had not yet gotten very big). He barked for several minutes, but it was barking in a pattern (and tone) that was downright "conversational". I called it his "State of the Neighborhood" address! He was quite a character - only one of my Cavaliers to ever do this.